Battle of Tyntregal
"Women and children first I said... We don't have enough vessels to evacuate you all. Damnit get back in line and wait your bloody tur... Oh by the stars; Brace for Impa--" '' - '''Last known words of Aramathi Captain Belto -' Lest we forget... The Battle of Tyntregal occurred in the midlife of year 2259AD and was part of the larger conflict known officially as the 'Yanaari - Human Dispute' but more commonly referred to as the Great southeastern war. The war was marked by the participation of the Commonwealth, the Shalani Coalition, the Interstellar Shalani Commonalty, and the Udkavongo Sovereign Stars against the Triple Alliance, consisting of the Yaanari League, the Zracon Union and the Kingdom of Yadra. The battle itself is largely unremarkable from a military perspective, some experimental tactics were tested to varying degrees of success, but nothing revolutionary was formed in order to counter the enemy menace. Total victory was achieved by Task Force Manticore and its relatively new Admiral at the time, Satayesh Ibrahim, the Zracon force was crushed and went on to embarrassingly lose the war they so proudly preached before. However this battle has become a landmark in Commonwealth's history, as it is one of its greatest defeats in casualty numbers... The battle had been won but the spirit of the nation was shattered along with it as well. An series of unfortunate events * Task Force Manticore was en route west to pick off a laughably weak Yanaari fleet when on the date 2258.12.30, the day before the turn of the year, sensors detected Zracon Armada, known as 'Radiant Host', heading towards the Fidhilam System which contained the Aramathi Colony, Tyntregal. * Task Force Manticore redirected route to intercept the Radiant Host; the fleet moved with haste but without sense of urgency. The Fidhilam System was protected by a network of defence stations that were built to contain enemy fleets while reinforcements were on their way to arrive. Among these stations, the Interdictor-class Defensive Station provided the most support to the Spaceport of Tyntregal. * These stations relied on an interdictor station to pull the enemy fleet out of warp-space into a pre-determined zone within defence stations crossfires; relying on chaos and confusion to wreck havoc * On 2259.06.30 the interdictor station failed... Abandon Ship... * The immediate requisition of civilian freighters and space crafts was ordered. But given the short time given to evacuate senior officials including the captain of Tyntregal Spaceport knew that the extreme loss of life was inevitable. * The crew of said station performed diligently in face of their certain end. When the Zracon fleet finally arrived, the last fleeting hour was spent forcing as many people as possible onto every last ship, safe or not against the Radiant Host. * This was the finest hour of Tyntregal's crew... and unfortunately their last, as the Host, not detecting the presence of Manticore, concentrated the fire of all its weapons against the Spaceport. * As per tradition; the Captain went down with his installation. Task Force Manticore Arrives 2259.07.04 Task Force Manticore finishes their warp into the system; weapons locked-on, using all sensory information provided from the interdictor station to acquire targets before even finishing the warp, as they enter the system, weapons are primed. Immediate volleys of retaliatory fire is unleashed, volley upon volley of laser and missile fire seethes from the barrels and silos. No munition is conserved, no quarter is given. "Target, Locked, Fire, Target, Locked, Fire, Target, Locked, Fire -RELOAD- Target, Lock, Fire, Target, Lock, Fire, Target, Fire, Target, Fire, Fire Fire FIRE" '- Transcript of weapon crew aboard CSV Cyclops: Ship Destroyed, No survivors -' The battle raged for hours, with the destruction of many vessels from both sides as a result of the violent volleys exchanged by missile and laser fire alike. Corvettes payed the dearest price in the battle, as many of the Zracon ships concentrated their fire on a single vessel at a time; causing absolute system failure as both shield and point defence systems were overwhelmed by the concentrated fire of Zracon guns, forcing the crews to ether evacuate (and prey they'd survive the battle in an scape pod) or go down with their vessel as it plummeted out of formation. Not even the largest ships of Manticore were safe however; Battlecruisers CSV Hathor and CSV Osiris, the biggest vessels of the fleet, approached the Zracon formation, and torn asunder by concentrated fire. When the Hathor blew up, it's explosion was large enough to disable the systems of the Osiris, stranding the crew inside their own ship, which became their tomb, as it later exploded. Of the 1800 lives operating both Battlecruisers, not a single one survived the explosions. On the 11th hour, the Zracon fleet was annihilated down to all but a handful of ships; the rest were smouldering wrecks by the time of the emergency warp was issued. Absolute victory had been achieved and the Commonwealth went on to win the Great southeastern war as a result of the accomplishments of this battle and those that followed. But when the reports came in that day; 40,000 civilian lives, including the crew of the Spaceport, had been lost. Either eviscerated aboard the station, shot out of space by the Zracon or even death via emergency landing gone wrong. That number may not be much in the grand scale of things; but 40,000 civilian lives had been far too many as it seemed. The Battle of Tyntregal went down in history as the Commonwealths greatest defeat yet, not as a loss of strength, but one of spirit. The Zracon have since been forever vilified by the Commonwealth public; every parade, every memorial, every prayer reminds them of this single bloody battle. "Lest we forget the Battle of Tyntregal, lest we forget those who did it..." Category:Historical Events Category:Battles involving the Commonwealth Category:Battles